1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention generally relates a method for forming cyclohexanone, and more particularly to a method for forming cyclohexanone from cyclohexanol.
2. Description of the Related Art
The production of cyclohexanone from a dehydrogenation reaction of cyclohexanol in the presence of a catalyst is known. Conventional large scale production of cyclohexanone typically utilizes a system including a single dehydrogenation reactor coupled to a distillation unit. In these conventional systems, cyclohexanol is fed into the single dehydrogenation reactor, where it is vaporized and dehydrogenated to cyclohexanone and hydrogen gas in the presence of a catalyst. The resultant product formed by this method includes large amounts of unreacted cyclohexanol that is separated from the formed cyclohexanone in the distillation unit, and the separated highly concentrated cyclohexanol recovered after distillation from the distillation unit may then be fed back into the single dehydrogenation reactor for further processing.